Here is a bit of good news on this Easter Monday. Well, the news is good if you are an illegal alien from Mexico. Ninety-eight percent of illegals arrested between October 1, 2000 and September 30, 2005, were never prosecuted for entering our country illegally.

The Associated Press crunched the federal numbers, and came up with the ninety-eight percent figure. The A-P says the 5.2 million illegals who were nabbed by border agents were “gingerly” escorted back across the Rio Grande--and set free. It is believed that many of those caught intially and given a free pass, thanks to “catch and release,” turned around and tried to get back into our country. Isn’t it nice to know that our government is fighting a real war on illegal immigration?

To be fair to our government, the A-P says the number of prosecutions during the five year period tripled. Almost thirty-one thousand illegal aliens were prosecuted in 2005. Nonetheless, that only represented three percent of the 1.17 million illegals who were arrested that same year.

Kathleen Walker, the President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association had this to say:

“The likelihood of an illegal immigrant being prosecuted is to me practically zero”

In the meantime, politicians have turned up the heat on federal prosecutors along our southern border. These prosecutors are being told to step up the pressure on illegals by taking them to court. While this may sound good, the A-P says this is what politicians want you to experience, “a good feeling.” These politicians aren’t interested in loading up the federal court dockets with the arrests of illegal aliens. And why? Some say that arresting all one million illegal aliens who cross our borders each year would:

* Overwhelm the nation’s prison system

* Drain the Justice Department’s budget

* Bring the federal courts to her knees

So, in order to avoid all of the above, the Justice Department says it is pursuing what it calls, “A Selective Strategy.” For example. the JD says it is focusing on immigrnat smugglers and those with criminal records. The union chief for Border Patrol Agents, T.J. Bonner says he has a better idea. Bonner proposes that the U.S. Government go after employers who hire illegals. What a novel idea!

Bonner noted, “the employers are the ones breaking the law.” Maybe you didn’t know this, but under federal law, an illegal alien arrested for the first time is charged with a simple “misdemeanor.” If convicted, they face a fine and six months in jail. Now that’s a deterrent isn’t it? Arrested a second time, the offender is looking at a two year stretch in a federal pen: where he will receive full health benefits, something the illegal doesn’t get south of the border, three square meals a day, and he has a roof over his head.